The legendary Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri have sat down for a lengthy interview as part of the promotion for the long-awaited The Super Mario Galaxy Movie which launches in cinemas worldwide today. Naturally the idea of a Nintendo cinematic universe was brought up in the interview as many fans would love to see a Smash Bros-style movie featuring an all-star cast of iconic Nintendo characters, but Mr. Miyamoto shut that down for the time being.
With the addition of characters like Pikmin and ROB in the movie and others, I see a lot of people think about the idea of a Super Smash Bros.-style “Nintendo Cinematic Universe.” How much do you want to grow Mario’s world to bring in other characters?
Miyamoto: Right off the bat, I’ll say that unlike something like Super Smash Bros., I don’t think you’ll have a situation [where] all Nintendo characters would be joining. As you know, my rule is that Pikmin can appear in any [Nintendo] series.
As we’re working on this movie, I re-realized how varied and how multi-talented the Mario cast is. When we had kind of ideas from Illumination about, “What about this character? What about that character?” I was like, “Oh yeah, that’s right. We had this. Oh yeah, that’s right. We had that character.” So it really kind of reaffirmed the varied nature of characters in the Mario world. We have plenty of characters to create a movie, and yet we wanted to add a little bit of spice, a little bit of secret cameos here and there. And you’ll see that there’s one secret character that plays a big role.
So I think there might be introductions of characters like this potentially in the future, something like that.
Meledandri: When you use the term universe, it conjures up for me this idea that there’s a group of really smart people in a room with charts up on a wall and they’re planning the next 10 years of how all the characters might be weaving in and out of movies. Our process is actually very different from that. It’s much more geared toward conversations about what would be fun within a certain scene in the movie. So these ideas come up based on, “Oh, wouldn’t it be fun if the Pikmin appeared here? Wouldn’t that be fun?” And then that conversation, if we agree that it’s a fun idea, then we look to Miyamoto-san to just make his own judgment about whether or not it feels right to him, but it’s much more incidental than strategic.
Thanks to Greatsong1 and MasterPikachu6 for sending in the news tip!
Thank god. I really REALLY dislike the idea of a smash bros movie, I can’t imagine a right studio to treat the characters in a manner that isn’t in bad taste other than sakurai himself. I’m maybe too attached with subspace emissary but the idea of smash bros characters talking like the average marvel movie is a nightmare for me.
It’s definitely happening eventually, but I think it’s for the best they take their time with it. I mean, the MCU to ages of buildup, y’know? It’d have to be like a decade or longer of hints and subtle build-up between so many different series just from how many there are.
Probably not with Zelda rights at Sony.
If the smb movie disrespects Mario and luigi i can’t imagine what sakurai would do to the poor plumbers if he takes the reigns of a ssb film, look how he takes every chance to humiliate mario.
I mean, I like the gritty tone for Mario and the weird and wacky one for Luigi, have you not played subspace emissary? They are really cool for me
Yes, i played it but i don’t like the way Sakurai showcases characters at the expense of making Mario and/or Luigi their punching bags. Have you seen the ssb amiibo packages? Someone is always hitting Mario.
Anyway if a ssb movie happens it should be separated from the mario universe and take inspiration from the first lego movie.
What?! How old are you 70? It’s a fighting game everyone gets punched not just Mario and Luigi. You been on the internet too much listening to bad YouTubers and watching memes.
Thanks lord i don’t support any youtuber or influencer crap.
What are you stupid the Lego movie is straight cringe Smash is not cringe bad humor trash. The serious tone is what makes it cool and why everyone wants Subspace back.
What on earth does this have to do with the lego movie?
Mario a punching bag? In the subspace emissary? Uhhh???? Also who the hell cares about the amiibo box bro, that’s like promotional material
Didn’t Mario and Luigi died in some Smash Ultimate videos?
Anime it sounds great western movie slop no.
Shigeru Miyamoto: Never liked the udea of other Nintendo Characters appearing in the Mario Universe via Mario Kart.
Shigeru Miyamoto with Mario Galaxy Movie: Don’t forget to add everyone including the kitchen sink.
So far his characters Pikmin, Star Fox, Donkey Kong, but not Zelda
Yeah because no Zelda also so far it’s only his characters in the movie.
Zelda isn’t barred from appearing in the animated movies. With how tight of an iron grip Nintendo has on their IPs, do you really think they’d make a deal with a company that would prohibit them from utilizing their own characters in however which way they want?
He confirms ROB and Pikmin are in the movie
Its quite alright. It was a theory for many people.
It was a really dumb idea in the first place. Kind of the same energy of people complaining about “NO YOU CAN’T DO GALAXY NEXT”